Rodar, are things contageous on the internet? I broke Jeffscott's 'above the neck/below the neck' rule this morning... weird stomach pains and a very long slow cold 6 miles. Not looking forward to the ride home.

I had trouble choosing steeds this morning, studded MTB or unstudded fatbike????? It's been snowing/raining/melting/freezing, etc. all week, leaving a wierd-textured +/-3" of snow behind. I initially regretted my choice (studded MTB) on the uphill trails where it floundered a bit, but there was enough ice that in the end I was happy with my selection. I also wanted to give that chainsuck fix (new granny) a good test, and it passed with flying colors.

^^ I wanted to take the cross bike today. I woke up to black ice warnings so the choice wasn't hard, the tank. I'm not ready to introduce the new 9er to salty roads yet. I'll keep it to icy trails, once they ice up again...waiting. It looks like next week the daytime highs aren't going to get above freezing so they should firm up.

Rodar, are things contageous on the internet? I broke Jeffscott's 'above the neck/below the neck' rule this morning... weird stomach pains and a very long slow cold 6 miles. Not looking forward to the ride home.

Please elaborate, if there are commutersecrets we need to know!

"I love being on a bike. It helps me feel free. I get it from my dad", by Guillaume Blanchet

^^ Elaborate on what? The rule? Jeffscott the magnificent is quoted as saying that when you have a cold, if it's above the neck (sore throat, head cold...) go ahead and ride, and if it's below the neck (abdominal pains, stomach flu....) it's not worth it.

My personal rule is "man up and ride unless you might die" which is why I haven't driven to work since I got studded tires. I'm of the opinion that if I'm healthy enough to go to work, I'm healthy enough to ride. Today I am questioning if I was healthy enough to go to work...but I'm a teacher, it's finals week....and there's 2 weeks off waiting for me after tomorrow

^^ Elaborate on what? The rule? Jeffscott the magnificent is quoted as saying that when you have a cold, if it's above the neck (sore throat, head cold...) go ahead and ride, and if it's below the neck (abdominal pains, stomach flu....) it's not worth it.

My personal rule is "man up and ride unless you might die" which is why I haven't driven to work since I got studded tires. I'm of the opinion that if I'm healthy enough to go to work, I'm healthy enough to ride. Today I am questioning if I was healthy enough to go to work...but I'm a teacher, it's finals week....and there's 2 weeks off waiting for me after tomorrow

Is it me...

or is it just harder to ride in the cold? I do the same route but am considerably slower now since the weather turned (the studded tires probably don't help either). Working harder to go the same distance is no fun.

Today was 7F when I left the house. Cold with a capital "F". My neoprene Walmart special gloves worked great, thinking I need socks in the same material though!. The main roads are just bare and dry now, sidewalks and half of the shoulder littered with icy nodules of pain. Talking to a guy at work who said our LBS told him he only 2 more months of riding left, 2 months ago, I showed him the bike and gear with a grin. He asked when I would stop and I said, "Haven't stopped yet, have I?"

On a related note, the studded tires are great. Feel very stable, even on sheer ice; not so great in snow per se but I'm really liking them. And officially, everyone at work thinks I'm crazy for riding at this time of year.

^^ It's definitely harder in the cold, especially when you get down to those single digits like you experienced today. Try to put your mind in a new frame of reference, forget your personal bests, leave early so you're not rushed, and just try to enjoy the ride. Don't even bother looking at your computer, GPS, etc.

In the realm of below-the-neck I'd add hacking cough. I had one of those a few weeks ago, and I really shouldn't have ridden. Temperatures were just barely below freezing, but I felt like my lungs were on fire while being sliced up by razor blades. At one point on a longish detour home I stopped to cough and cough and cough and cough for like 5 minutes straight. Yeck.

It was snowing and icy yesterday. Hit a patch of ice covered with wet snow and went down, despite riding studded tires. Everywhere else the studs are great.

Today was frozen and slick in the morning. The Marathon Winters worked great.

Warmed up for the afternoon trip home. Wet bare pavement, slush. Nice view from the bridge.
Looking south, with more than a 180 degree view. Columbia River. Like the blue sky over the Columbia Plateau to the east and storm clouds over the Cascades.

I`m feeling quite a bit better, but still not back to normal. I`m registered to ride my first brevet down near Sacramento on the 31st (DBC Last Chance 200K). I was worried about the weather before, now more concerned that I`ll still be dragging my butt in a sling. We`ll see, I guess.

Originally Posted by newfangled

In the realm of below-the-neck I'd add hacking cough. I had one of those a few weeks ago, and I really shouldn't have ridden. Temperatures were just barely below freezing, but I felt like my lungs were on fire while being sliced up by razor blades. At one point on a longish detour home I stopped to cough and cough and cough and cough for like 5 minutes straight. Yeck.

Yeah, lung/breating issues and cold temps probably aren`t a very good combination for any kind of exertion. Why does cold air induce coughing, anyway?

Windy! The gusty winds that not only make it more work but also try to throw you off course. I tried the fatbike but too much heavy wet stuff had fallen overnight for me to even make it across the yard, so I tool the mtb and the roads instead. With the wind, and rainpants instead of woolies, I was chilly and zipped up the pitzips on my jacket for one of the first times - that helped. Traction was good with the studs, only felt a little sketchy on one highly crowned (off camber) section. My glasses got fogged but before I removed them I realized they weren't fogged, it was snowy sleety stuff on the outside, and a glove swipe took care of that. Once I got to the main road it was just wet and it was just a matter of fighting the wind the remaining miles. Changing over to rain and more wind for the way home - ick!

I stopped at the reservoir for a few pix...the little island looked pretty desolate.

We had a few 50-60 mph gusts yesterday. It made riding home interesting. Plus, I got my first flat of the year on the way home. I was only about a half mile or so away from home, so I pushed/carried my bike the rest of the way. It started sleeting for a bit, but luckily the worst of it held off until I got home.

^ basically any day that I've worked, I've ridden. So that includes a few training days out in the boonies, doing some interviewing at the university, I think there was a site trip or two in there too, and one day I rode to the city centre airport to catch a flight to Calgary.

I have also had to get a rental to go down to Calgary a few times, which admittedly pushes the definition a bit. But that would be a 12+ hour ride, so I figure I'm allowed to cheat a bit on that.

^ basically any day that I've worked, I've ridden. So that includes a few training days out in the boonies, doing some interviewing at the university, I think there was a site trip or two in there too, and one day I rode to the city centre airport to catch a flight to Calgary.

I have also had to get a rental to go down to Calgary a few times, which admittedly pushes the definition a bit. But that would be a 12+ hour ride, so I figure I'm allowed to cheat a bit on that.

So sick days and vacation days don't count as a missed ride?

BTW the Sun is finally comming back, tomorrow will have a longer day than today ihave been waiting for that for a while now.

Ha you can fly out of city center to Calgary but not from Calgary to city center....or was it a charter?

By that definition I am a 100% going back probably 7 years. Ihave had a few surguries that take about a week to recover from I catch a ride to work for that week.

**I should note that I break my "man up and ride" rule whenever I want, due to my "man up and break the rule" rule.

Shiggy, I just got a new phone with that panorama camera feature...Need to play with that. Cool pic. Beautiful area. Love it up there.

Congrats Newf. That's big. I started to bounce back yesterday and the ride home wasn't awful. Must have eaten something funny. In fact I took the long way to check out the frozen beaver ponds. Nasty headwinds from the incoming storm.

Studs went back on the Ogre this morning, and it was a mellow ride in with about an inch of fresh on top of pavement, and a nice tailwind. Snowing hard now...

Well today is my last commute of the year. Vacation here I come! 100% bike commuter for three years now. I only count days when I work as commute days. It was a good ride today. Chilly. -10 at my house. No wind, perfectly clear sky, and well packed trails. Love it!

Actually the last time that I count myself as having not ridden to work was sometime in 2010 when I sprained my ankle and spent a day hopping. I needed my wife to drive me in so that I could do one thing, and then she drove me right home again so it was basically a sick day. I really should declare that one void, and then my streak goes back even further.

Well for those of us on weird schedules where the end of the year is actually the middle of the year... even though this is my last commute day of 2012, I'm celebrating the fact that it's the shortest day of the year and we'll now be moving closer to ditching the headlight and enjoying some daylight in the morning. Not to steal any of your well deserved celebrations...

This morning I set out for the office and got a few miles down the road when I finally wised up to just how slick it was and how dangerous it was for me to be out there (I don't have studs, does not get under freezing often enough here to justify them). So I turned around and rode home and just decided to work from home for the day.

I consider myself lucky on the ride home. The downpours stopped and the winds died down, the only difficulty was the dirt roads, which were like pedaling through wet concrete. Some parts of VT were really rough today, "Winds gusted to 125 mph on Mt. Mansfield at 10:35 a.m. Friday ó one of the higher readings recorded atop Vermontís tallest peak." Many towns on the western slopes of the Green Mountains got gusts in the 60's and 70's, and power poles snapped in two even without trees falling on the wires.

Another day of high wind and our first snow. Big tree down on our power line.

New glasses to replace the ones that saved my right eye (the scratch resistant lens was gouged, the titanium badly bent.) I decided that the wind plus first snow and idiot drivers was not a favorable commuting situation. Besides I did not think they'd let a snow covered bike into the waiting room and there is no safe lockup outside. One accident is all I can afford in 2012.

How do you define 100%, does not include vacation days? does not include days when not visiting the office? does not include sick days?

That kind of question is like figuring out what counts as "commute mileage"- it isn`t going to be the same for everybody. I prefer to just count trips I make to work, then how many of those I ride or don`t ride. If you count every time the sun rises and falls as a day when you could conceiveably have ridden to work, that makes sense in its own way. Pretty simple for people like me whose workplace is always the same. For people who have satelite locations, work from home ops, frequent business travel, etc, it looks like they all come up individually with what seems like a reasonable way of counting and go with that.

Originally Posted by CommuterBoy

In fact I took the long way to check out the frozen beaver ponds. Nasty headwinds from the incoming storm.

It was great, our neighboring town had a Bike Swap & BMX stunt show, which gave me a reason to take Midas out for a ride (and try out my lil cyclometer) So it took me about a good 30+ minutes to get there and fought some head wind. While at the event I found some nice items to buy, like some handlebars similar to these: http://1mg.me/?f=BTI&filename=NJ1452.JPG A pair of red platform pedals and a red Tektro V-Brake Set plus other odds and ends, and seen some nice bikes and cruisers, especially a Salsa Mariachi 01 29er, which was worth $5500, and yeah if i had the money I probably would've bought it LOL. The frame was a tan-like gold and I loved the wheel set and metallic red platform pedals, t'was a majestic steed it was. I was prolly out there about a good hour and a half and had a good time and got a nice lil' haul of goodies, especially the upgrades for Midas In mileage I put in 13 miles, and when I got back into town I decided to go ahead and do laundry (yawn).

Depending on how you look at it, I'm either a 100%'er or about a 75%er. I live too far away from the bus that will get me to work, so I either have to ride to the bus and catch the bus in, or ride all the way in. I don't have a car, and mostly drive my girlfriend's if I do decide to take motorized transport either way. I'm sitting on around 9600 mi for this year at the moment, mostly commuting. I did have 4 weeks off in September to renew my visa, and 3 weeks off to burn through sick and vacation time that was going to expire and/or recover from illness, so I went to work 26 fewer days than I did last year (sitting on 200 for the year at the moment with 3 to go, and did 229 commutes last year).

I'm sitting on around 9600 mi for this year at the moment, mostly commuting.

I did have 4 weeks off in September to renew my visa, and 3 weeks off to burn through sick and vacation time that was going to expire and/or recover from illness,

Man, I don`t think I could pedal up that many miles if I were completely retired! That`s amazing

I don`t envy you for having to mess with a visa, though. Sure hope the renewal was easier than the initial application. My wife has a greencard now, so it`s been a piece of cake, but I remember the battle it took to get that far- NOT for the faint of heart.

Depending on how you look at it, I'm either a 100%'er or about a 75%er. I live too far away from the bus that will get me to work, so I either have to ride to the bus and catch the bus in, or ride all the way in. I don't have a car, and mostly drive my girlfriend's if I do decide to take motorized transport either way. I'm sitting on around 9600 mi for this year at the moment, mostly commuting. I did have 4 weeks off in September to renew my visa, and 3 weeks off to burn through sick and vacation time that was going to expire and/or recover from illness, so I went to work 26 fewer days than I did last year (sitting on 200 for the year at the moment with 3 to go, and did 229 commutes last year).

Yazooks! Congrats hunter, that a lot of miles!

I'm thinking back...maybe a year or two ago...I remember meeting an aussie on the 520 trail and we rode together to Woodinville where I get off the SRT. He was telling me about his commute from MSFT over to Seattle and I was thinking "man my commute is long but this guy is nuts!". He might have been riding a single-speed that day. Any chance that was you?

Snow! My first ride in actual snow since about a year and a half ago! After I slipped on black ice and damaged my bike a few weeks ago, I`ve been putting up with my studded tires even over mostly dry roads, so it sure is nice to have some kind of visible reason to lug the nasty things along . We had remnants of about two inches snow from last night, then it started again and snowed for me whole trip (took the long way) in to work. I hope we get more overnight.

Bike maint this afternoon. Replaced a worn out chain, cleaned the contacts in my computer mount, replaced a bunch of flagging electrical tape (for managing lighting wires and pairing brake cable housing together with shift cable housing) with new stuff, then worked out a way to clip a plastic envelope with map/cue sheet onto my front bag.

New memo with news of our "holiday cheer" at work- as of tthe end of 2012, no more company match for 401(k). That will go nicely with last years freezing of our former pension fund. The good news is that the Surgeon General tells me I probably won`t need to make my savings last as long as most of today`s generation will

^^ Woohoo! Ride Safe! A good dump expected here also, tonight through Friday a.m. here. So I stopped on my way home for emergency storm supplies - 1 roll of toilet paper. I may bail on riding tomorrow, as I have the furnace guy coming for clean/tune first thing, and got the OK to do some work at home while I wait.

Cold and wet. Snow started at lunch while we were out on a job so I got to test the new tires on a dry commute in and a wet/snow on the way home. By the time I got home I was warm except my feet which were soaked. Fenders worked right, tires worked perfect. Need shoe covers. Amazingly enough with the roads less than perfect and light low, shoulders white with snow, the drivers were a margin better. Still a few people who don't know where their edges are but the majority were better than usual. Still took the opportunity to upgrade my gloves to a new set of Salomon snowboard gloves with waterproof outsides. Yay for xmas money and company bonus...